Flight from Tel Aviv with 160 on board makes emergency landing in Sochi

August 24th, 2019 Jesus Christ ✝

A Ural Airlines flight from Tel Aviv carrying 160 people made an emergency landing on Friday in Sochi with a damaged wheel mechanism, Russian media reported, saying there were no injuries.

Vesti reported that the Airbus A320 successfully landed and the airport was now operating normally.

“According to preliminary data, the pneumatics of the left main gear were destroyed. 160 passengers were on board. The emergency services of Sochi International Airport were ready. The landing was successful,” Sputniknews quoted an airline spokesperson as saying.

This is the second emergency landing by Ural Airlines in a week. Last Thursday a Russian pilot successfully landed his plane in a cornfield after loosing power in both engines after colliding with a flock of gulls.

The Ural Airlines Airbus A321 was carrying 226 passengers and a crew of seven as it took off from Moscow’s Zhukovsky Airport en route to Simferopol in Crimea.

Putin also awarded the Hero of Russia to the plane’s second pilot, 23-year-old Georgy Murzin and bestowed other top awards on the plane’s cabin crew.

Yusupov was hailed as a hero after the feat, and Russian television stations showed passengers standing in head-high corn next to the plane, hugging Yusupov and thanking him for saving their lives.

Yusupov’s feat Thursday drew comparisons to the 2009 “miracle on the Hudson,” when Capt. Chesley Sullenberger safely ditched his plane in New York’s Hudson River after a bird strike disabled its engines, saving the lives of all 155 people on board.